Harry and Neville decided they wanted to go on a trip for their birthdays. Well Harry talked Neville into wanting to go as he was afraid it would cost too much money. Harry decided that he wanted to go to Disney once before he was grown-up. He had heard some of the other campers talking about the differences between Disneyland, Disney World and Euro Disney and decided he wanted to go to Disney World. He thought it would be fun to go to the United States and visit Florida and see the ocean. He was able to talk Neville into going and they were going to have Remus as a chaperone. Hermione's mum had agreed to let her go as long as she had a separate room.
Harry had taken care of setting up all their paperwork for passports and such through Gringotts. Dudley was coming along as well since he didn't want to leave him out and he had never been there either. Harry had even gone into a muggle bookstore and bought vacation guides and books on what to expect that he made sure Remus and Neville read them so they would not have a problem fitting into the muggle world. Hermione had scolded him on how much money he wasted on the plane tickets by not making plans sooner but he didn't really care. He would be going to the happiest place on earth with his two best friends, his cousin and his surrogate godfather, money was immaterial.
The Dursley's were the hardest to convince to let Dudley go with Harry. They were convinced that being around all the freaks would permanently harm him. Dudley just reminded them that they had been calling him a freak all summer so far and now he would just fit in. Vernon had raged on and on that he would not pay a dime for the trip. Harry finally placed a silencing charm on the man to explain that his new godfather was arranging the trip. He then told his aunt and uncle that if they didn't allow Dudley to go he would make sure that the bank foreclosed on the house since they had not been able to make that months mortgage payment. They had taken out two different loans on the equity of the house and now owed more than twice the value of the house to the bank. Harry had no idea what they did with all the money or what all they spent it on but didn't feel bad for them at all. They finally allowed Dudley to go after three more arguments with Harry threatening to kick them out.
They were flying out very early Monday morning and would arrive in Florida in the early afternoon due to the time zone differences. They were all glad to get off the plane as 11 hours in the same seat was hard on the body. "Why didn't we just get an international portkey?" Neville asked as they headed to the exit. They had at least shrunk their luggage and had each only taken a carry-on style suitcase so they didn't need to check baggage.
"All international portkeys require a month's prior notice without getting approval directly from the minister himself. Additionally they require precise itineraries and detailed passenger lists. They also do not allow werewolves to use them. This way we avoid everyone knowing about our trip and can have Remus as our chaperone." Harry told his friend.
"Fine, but on the way back can you just charm me to sleep until we get home?" He asked hopefully and they all laughed.
They followed the driver with the 'Lupin' sign to the waiting limo and piled in. "You didn't need to rent a limo from the airport Harry!" Hermione scolded; still worried about how much Harry was spending on the trip regardless of him explaining that it wouldn't even make a tiny dent.
He just smiled at her and wondered what her reaction to the hotel and suite of rooms would be. He had to take a larger suite than they needed because it was such short notice but he had decided that was better than individual rooms that were half the hotel away from each other. They pulled into the driveway of the Grand Floridian Hotel and both Hermione and Dudley gasped at the grandeur of the place. Even Remus raised an eyebrow at Harry's choice of lodging not having expected it to be quite so impressive.
"This place has a monorail that runs directly to the different parks. I got us all what are called park hopper passes so we can come and go from any of them as we please. I also set each of us up with Disney credit cards so that none of us have to figure out American muggle money. The cards are good at any restaurant or gift shop in any of the parks and at the hotel." Harry explained as he handed each of them a leather case. The cases had their muggle IDs, passports, some dollars, the credit card, a Gringotts card, and their park tickets and had a spot for their hotel key cards. There were park maps and attraction listings as well as times for different shows, character greeting sessions and menus for the different restaurants.
"If I didn't know better I'd say Hermione put all this together," Neville joked as he appreciated his friend coming prepared. "This looks great Harry."
"You can shrink it to wallet size and keep it in your pocket by placing your thumb on the Disney logo. When you open it that way you can only access the cards, cash and tickets." Harry showed them how they worked and they were all once again impressed with his preparedness. "And it doesn't require active magic so there will be no owls and Dud can use it too."
"Wow! Thanks Harry," Dudley said excited about his first magical item. He had been surprised that Harry wanted to bring him but over the flight he had been able to get to know both Hermione and Neville and almost wished he was at Hogwarts so he could stay friends with them.
Harry led them into the hotel and over to the Reception counter to check them in and get their room keys. The goblins had sent all the required documentation and payment for the week already so the clerk was very polite and helpful. She gave them each a key card to the main suite door as well as individual cards to their own rooms. Remus and Hermione would have their own room while the three boys shared a larger room. There was a living room area between with a balcony and kitchenette. There were four bathrooms in the suite and Harry was still having difficulty determining how they would need four bathrooms in such a small space.
A bellhop took their luggage and led them up to their room. Harry was glad he had read up ahead of time and had the appropriate cash out to tip the man. Hermione giggled at him after the man left and said he must have given the guy too much money as he looked like his eyes were going to bug out. "I'm not sure," Harry said with a shrug. "It said $50 on it so I assumed that was like 50 pounds."
"That's like 100 pounds," Dudley said with a laugh, "no wonder the guy looked like it was his lucky day!"
"So how much should I tip?" Harry asked looking around wondering if there was a guide for such a thing.
"I assume you would rather be a high tipper rather than a low tipper," Hermione said and then continued at his nod of approval. "I would say $20 for bigger things, $10 for normal things and $5 for small things. When you eat it is customary to tip 20 to the waitress. If in doubt you can just over tip them like you did that guy!" They all had a good laugh wondering how much money Harry would blow through if he kept giving everyone $50 dollar bills.
They made their way down to one of the less dressy restaurants in the hotel for lunch or dinner. They were off on their timing as it was after dinner their time but was still early afternoon in Florida. They were not planning on heading to the parks until the next day so they enjoyed a leisurely dinner and then explored all the hotel had to offer. Harry and Neville both had magical cameras with them and Dudley had brought his muggle one and they were all taking lots of pictures.
"I'll have to figure out how to have all these developed when I get back," Harry laughed as he took a picture of Hermione posing next to a statue of Sorcerer Mickey.
"Your house elf friend should be able to handle it," Neville told him quietly. They didn't really want to get into a fight with Hermione over house elf rights at the moment.
They relaxed by one of the pools until they were all so tired they could hardly stay awake. They went to bed early knowing they would be up early and ready for a day of Disney magic!
The next four days were full of fun as they went first to the magic kingdom, then to MGM, Animal Kingdom and Epcot. They even had some time to spend at both water parks in between. Harry loved Epcot Center as he had never visited any foreign countries before. He dragged the rest of them around taking pictures of him in every 'country.' He had fun shopping in all the gift shops buying souvenirs and other things he thought were neat. Hermione and Neville both liked Animal Kingdom the best since it was alive but fun. Dudley liked MGM the best for all its technology and references to popular TV and cinema, he forced them to go on the Tower of Terror ride 10 times. Remus liked the Magic Kingdom the best with all the different rides and characters.
Harry thought the cute purple dragon called Figment was great and had bought a figurine for himself and a big stuffed version for Charlie Weasley. Remus had liked the Pirates of the Caribbean ride the best and had talked with a pirate accent the rest of the day, mostly just to drive the rest of them nuts. They all decided that they loved all the rollercoasters; even Hermione who was scared of flying liked them. They all went on Space Mountain at least 6 times and any other "thrill" ride they could find.
"It's too bad there's not like a park just of rollercoasters," Harry said with a sigh one night when they were all relaxing in one of the hotel's hot tubs after a day of Disney fun.
"There is Harry," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. "That's what they have at amusement parks."
"Isn't this an amusement park?" Harry asked confused.
"Nope, this is a theme park," she said with a smug grin as everyone else groaned as there was relatively no difference between the two but they knew it would get Harry riled up.
"So are there any amusement parks around here then?" Harry asked with an excited gleam in his eyes.
"I have been doing a bit of browsing through the tourist brochures…" Hermione started and everyone started laughing as they all knew that meant she had read every single one of them cover to cover. "I think that Universal Studios Islands of Adventure is what you are looking for… it's full of thrill rides and just so happens to be here in Orlando."
"Sweet! Let's go tomorrow. We've seen everything at Disney at least once already." Harry said looking like a little kid begging his mum for some candy.
"Do you think we could go out somewhere for dinner afterwards?" Remus asked with a sparkle in his eyes.
"Sure Remus is there someplace special you want to go?" Neville asked, finally comfortable calling his old professor by his name.
"Yep we are going to the Pirates Adventure Dinner!" Remus said happily. He was still on his pirate kick ever since the Magic Kingdom. The others agreed to go to the interactive dinner theatre with him knowing he would be greatly disappointed if they refused.
"This place is great!" Harry said with enthusiasm as he looked around at the different rides. He was studying the park map in his hand and trying to decide which ride to try first. The others were looking forward to the day but they could all tell that Harry was the most excited. "Let's go this way," he said pointing to his left. "I want to ride the Hulk and then the Spiderman ride and then…" he kept listing off the different rides he wanted to go on and they all chuckled as they followed him to the first rollercoaster.
"That was the best rollercoaster I have ever been on," Dudley said reverently as they got off the Hulk. The others all agreed and decided to come back a few times throughout the day and ride it again. They laughed as Harry walked out of a nearby gift shop sporting a brand new Incredible Hulk t-shirt. Hermione wondered just how much money Harry was spending on souvenirs this trip.
They went on almost 2/3 of the rides before lunch and were having a blast. They ate at a cool restaurant that looked like a cave and a medieval bar at the same time. Remus had ordered a giant turkey leg that looked like it could be used as a weapon. They all stuffed themselves on the good food before heading back out to enjoy some of the calmer activities while they digested.
Hermione started laughing as she was looking at a display for temporary tattoos and drug all of them over to get matching ones. She had chosen a small lightning bolt tattoo that they all had placed on their foreheads to match Harry's.
"Aren't you getting one too dear?" The lady that had applied the others asked him once she was finished. They all just laughed and Harry showed her his scar and she seemed to appreciate the humor in his friends getting the tattoos to match him.
"Can you do this one on my arm?" He asked her politely and pointed to a picture of a lily. The others just smiled as he had the temporary tattoo applied in honor of his mother. He thought they were a great idea as they could last over a week if properly taken care of but could also be removed quickly if needed. "Excuse me mam, but you do not happen to know who manufactures these for you do you?" He asked wondering if he could contact them about making some custom ones. She smiled and gave him a business card with contact information on it. They thanked her again and made their way over to one of the shows that was scheduled to start… it just happened to be a pirate show.
Remus was having the most fun he had had since leaving Hogwarts. He still missed his friends but was greatly enjoying the company of Harry and his friends. He had been worried that he was invited strictly as a chaperone and was glad to realize that it just worked out nicely for them that he was an adult.
The group spent the rest of the day on the different rides and browsing the different gift-shops. Harry had quite the collection of souvenirs with him by the end of the day. He was thankful that he could shrink them so that he didn't have to carry them all like many of the other park-goers were. They left the park an hour before they needed to be at the pirate dinner so they could drop by the hotel and freshen up.
The five of them had a great time at dinner. The pirate show was great. Harry had paid extra for all of them to have a front row seat and Remus was picked to 'assist' in part of the show. Neville thought the whole thing was just as cool as Remus and the two talked in pirate speak the entire night. Hermione thought the museum area was neat as it had information on real pirate history and she read all the plaques and even purchased a book from the gift shop on pirates. Dudley was sure that the gift shop was sad to see Harry leave as he had 5 full bags of things when they finally headed back to the hotel.
They went back to the Magic Kingdom the next day as it was their last. Harry had arranged for them to attend a character meet and great and they were all extremely excited and were having their picture taken with every character they could see. Hermione laughed when she saw Harry posing for a photo in the middle of all the Disney princesses.
"I can't believe we just spent a week in the happiest place on earth," Harry said with a content and happy smile as they all relaxed near the pool that night. They would be flying home early the next morning.
"So how was your first real vacation?" Hermione asked him already knowing he had loved every minute of it.
"Perfect," Harry told her with a grin. "I had a lot of fun and I got to bring the people I care about with me."
"Are you going to even be able to carry all your souvenirs back with you?" Dudley joked, still amused with how much fun Harry had in the gift shops.
"That's what shrinking charms are for," he replied with a smirk. "I just have to add a notice-me-not charm to the shrunken bags inside my carry-on and they won't spot a thing."
"We better head to bed, the flight is going to be long and then the jet lag is going to be worse." Remus advised and they all agreed and went up to make sure they were fully packed and to get some sleep.
Harry and Dudley had said their good-byes to everyone at the airport. Harry had told Neville that he would floo over to his house at 7 am on Monday morning so they could take his port-key to The Farm. Hermione was going to wait until Harry got back to go to Gringotts about their suspicions about Sirius. They had even been able to hide their suspicions so far from Remus. Remus was heading off on Order business and it was also the time of the month for his little furry problem. Dudley was sad that Harry would be gone another week but decided he would get a lot of exercise in to make up for their week of vacation. He had less than 2 weeks of potion left to take and he wanted to get the maximum benefit from them before he had to head back to school.
"Thanks for taking me with you on vacation," Dudley said as they were headed back to Privet Drive. "I had a great time, the most fun I can ever remember having actually."
"No problem Dud as I believe most would say that is what family is for. I'm just starting to learn what real family is but I'm sure this is part of it." Harry said with a grin. "I had a great time too and I'm glad you came along. I'll miss you next year when we're at separate schools. At least we can keep in touch through our Gringotts boxes."
"Yeah that should make it a little easier. It is still sort of surreal that we are such good friends now and just a year ago we hated each other." Dud said.
"Strange how fast things change," Harry said with a sad smile. "I'm very glad of the changes in this case though. I know it's been hard on you with how your parents are reacting but I can't begin to say how happy I am that you are who you are now."
"Come on," Dudley said as they exited the cab and took their carry-on luggage from the boot. "Let's go inside and see just how many souvenirs you bought!" The boys then spent the next two hours sorting through the things Harry had got. He had bought things for others as well as himself and they sorted those out first. Then they started on Harry's stuff and what he wanted to do with it.